As recorded on March 31st, the end of the financial year, India had consumed 183.5 million tons, from 165.5 million tons recorded the previous year. That is an increase of 10.9 percent, according to the latest data released by the Oil Ministry.

In March alone, fuel sales jumped 16.42 percent to 17.09 tons, compared to 14.67 million tons sold in March last year. According to a projection by Indian Oil Corp, petrol demand could see an increase of 11 percent in 2016-17 and diesel could go up by 4 percent.

Key reasons for the increase in fuel demand is the growing Indian economy and the demand from the agricultural sector for diesel. Also, the automobile sector grew quite a bit in the past years in India. A major factor for increase in petrol demand is the narrowing price gap between diesel and petrol prices.